If Park Bank is liable for not spotting Sujata "Sue" Sachdeva's $34 million embezzlement from Koss Corp. and has to reimburse the company, Koss Chief Executive Michael Koss should also be ordered to pull out his personal checkbook and pay the public company he runs, the bank argues in a new lawsuit.

Grant Thornton, Koss Corp.'s former auditor, should also have to pay a portion of any court award that may be ordered, Park Bank argued in the latest twist in a long-running court fight stemming from Sachdeva's massive embezzlement.

"Park Bank denies any and all liability to Koss in this case," Park Bank wrote in its action. "Nevertheless, should Park Bank be found liable to Koss (Corp.) and required to pay damages to Koss, in this case, those damages will have been the result of a common liability of Park Bank, Michael Koss and Grant Thornton, thereby entitling Park Bank to (a) contribution from Michael Koss and Grant Thornton."(3)

School leaders stage rooftop campaign for votes

This is what Henry Tyson figured he needed to live and work from the roof of his school for five days: three suits, five shirts, a tent, sleeping bag, pillow, cell phone, computer with WiFi, a lot of enthusiasm and the wherewithal to give up showering until sometime Friday night or Saturday morning.

The superintendent of St. Marcus School, a K-8 Lutheran institution that participates in the city's voucher program, is known as a driven and ambitious school leader making gains with low-income students.

But this week's stunt to promote a Kohl's competition that will distribute $500,000 each to 20 schools in the country that garner the most votes on Facebook by Sept. 3 may be the most unusual way that Tyson has rallied the community around a cause.

The idea is to "raise the roof" on the number of votes accumlated on Facebook this week not only for St. Marcus, 2215 N. Palmer St., but also for Pius XI High School, 135 N. 76th St., and Racine's Mitchell Middle School, 2701 Drexel Ave.

Tyson has pledged to stay on the roof 24/7 this week until all three schools are in the top 10 or until voting ends Friday. Leaders and staff from the other two school are also working from the St. Marcus roof this week.

"Whatever meetings we have this week are happening up here," Tyson said from the roof Monday. "This is a community deal. We welcome supporters and people working at this to come up and say hello."

Tyson said the three schools thought they would have more success campaigning as a team rather than individually to rally votes and keep a portion of the department store's $10 million in grant money in southeastern Wisconsin.

He said the schools were connected by Jennifer Bartolotta, head of strategic partnerships for Bartolotta Restaurants, and that the restaurants are supplying food to workers on the roof this week.

Based on the schools currently in the top 20 of the vote standings on Facebook, none of the $10 million that Wisconsin-based Kohl's has pledged to give away as part of its Kohl's Cares program would be going to Wisconsin schools, Tyson said.

Each Facebook account has a 20-vote allotment for users who wish to participate in the competition. The Facebook page mandates that users share their profile information before voting.

A Kohl's spokeswoman assured me last week that this would not be used for spamming purposes, but some users still may consider it too invasive.

Tyson, however, is undeterred.

"We're hoping that this effort will move us all up (in the competition)," he said.

(In photo at top, Tyson, left, works on his computer with supporters on the roof of St. Marcus Monday.)

About Erin Richards

Erin Richards covers K-12 education in urban and suburban Milwaukee, as well as state politics related to education issues.